I think those kids you abused before you were fired from your teaching position deserve better.
And this nation deserves better than a guy who had sex with his teenage daughter in the shower and then raped an intern.
Tara Reade: He was at first talking to someone. I could see him at a distance and then they went away. And then we were in like the side area, and he just said, "Hey c'mere Tara," and then I handed him the thing. And he greeted me. He remembered my name and then it we were alone. And it was the strangest thing. There was no like exchange. Really. He just had me up against the wall. And I was wearing like a skirt, and you know, business skirt. But I wasn't wearing stockings. It was kind of a hot day that day and I was wearing heels. And I remember my legs had been hurting from the marble, you know, of the Capitol, like walking.
And I remember that kind of stuff. I remember like I was wearing a blouse, and he just had me up against the wall. And the wall was cold. And I remember it happened all at once. The gym bag, I don't know where, when I handed it to him, was gone. And then his hands were on me and underneath my clothes. And yeah, and then he went um, he went down my skirt, but then up inside it. And he penetrated me with his finger. He was kissing me at the same time, and he was saying something to me. He said several things and I can't remember everything. He said, I remember a couple of things, I remember him saying first, as he was doing it "Do you want to go somewhere else?" and then him saying to me when I pulled away, he got finished doing what he was doing, and I pulled back. And he said "Come on man, I heard you liked me." It's that phrase stayed with me because I kept thinking what I might have said. And I can't remember exactly if he said, "I thought" or "I heard", but it's like he implied that I had done this.
I don't know, for me it was like everything shattered in that moment. Because I knew, like we were alone. It was over, right? He wasn't trying to do anything more. But I looked up to him. He was like my father's age. He was this champion of
women's rights in my eyes, and I couldn't believe it was happening. It seems surreal. And I just I knew I just felt sick, because when he pulled back, he looked annoyed. And he said something else to me that I don't want to say. And then he said - I must have looked shocked and he grabbed me by the shoulders. I don't know how I looked, but I must have looked something because he grabbed me by the shoulders and he said, "You're okay. You're fine. You're okay. You're fine." And then he walked away and he went on with his day.
And what I remember next is being in the Russell Building, like where the big windows are and the stairs by myself. And my body - I was shaking everywhere because - and it was cold. All of a sudden, I was, I don't know, I felt like I was shaking just everywhere and I was trying to grasp what just happened. and what I should do, or what I should say. But I knew it was bad because he was so angry. Like when he left. Like I could feel, you know, how when you know someone's angry. They don't necessarily say anything. He smiles when he's angry and you can just feel it emanating from him.
Interviewer: Do you want to share that thing that you said you don't like, you said like I don't want to say what he said that thing he said to you?
Tara Reade: Um yeah. I can, I guess I could. I mean....
Interviewer: You you don't have to.
Tara Reade: That's okay. It's just um, it's almost like giving a weapon to them.
Interviewer:' 'How so?
Tara Reade: Well it's like I don't want them to know how much it hurt. I don't you know. don't want him to know.
Interviewer: That you remembered it?
Tara Reade: Yeah. Just... just I don't know um....but yeah, I can say it, um yeah.
There was something he said that I didn't want to say. And I didn't want to say it because it's the thing that stays in my head over and over. Like, um, it's the thing that kind of stayed with me over the years. But he said, when he got me against the wall after I pulled away. And he said, "Hey, I heard you liked me". I knew he was angry right after he took his finger, he just like pointed at me and he said. "You're nothing to me". And he just looked at me, he goes "You're nothing. Nothing." And then I must have reacted and I think he only said it twice. I just heard the word "nothing" and, and I must have reacted, because that's when he took me by the shoulders and he said "You're okay. You're fine. You're okay."
But then afterwards, like it kept replaying in my head there, like last April [2019] when all that stuff came out. I got really, really sad about it. And the thing that I remember most, almost more than the assault itself was, just being told that I was nothing. And he was right. That's how people treated me. And I have no platform. So people want to know why women don't come forward, that's a good example
